In 2016, retail store associates need to know their customers’ preferences to deliver the best service and experience that shoppers demand. Is mobile technology equipped with analytics the silver bullet to making 2016 the best year yet for both retailers and customers?
The post-mortem on how retailers fared over holiday 2015 is in full swing. The trend of consumers choosing to shop online rather than at the store soared. For the first time ever, more shoppers turned to their digital devices than physical stores to shop on Black Friday. In all, IBM Watson Trend found that online sales for November 1 through December 26 were up 13.3% over the same period in 2014.
Yet, before you begin making the familiar case for the demise of the store, consider that nearly 92% of retail sales are still made at brick-and-mortar locations. In 2016, retailers need to continue their quest to put the same mobile technologies empowering consumers to work for their stores and employees.
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Sales associates account for close to 94% of a retailer’s workforce and carry the responsibility of being front-line brand ambassadors. One of the biggest challenges retailers face is how to train and enable their sales associates to create experiences that bring customers back for more.
Today, many sales associates on the floor of a store don’t have the tools to immediately tell a shopper whether specific items are in stock or suggest items that might be of interest to an individual consumer. This is a significant issue given that 90% of shoppers say they will leave a store without buying anything if they can’t get the help and information that they need.
Smart retailers are providing employees made-for-business apps that put essential information into the palm of their hands. From access to basic information like inventory to more advanced analytics that help associates understand customer preferences and needs, the technology exists today to better serve customers.
For example, China’s popular high-end furniture and home brand, Markor, teamed up with IBM on new IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps to improve its customers’ shopping experience.
With the Sales Consult app, Markor sales associates can access real-time information about consumers’ profiles, past projects and interactions to deliver a unique and personalized shopping experience. The app allows customers to virtually view items from an extended catalogue and receive instant access to additional style and color suggestions to help guide their decisions prior to purchase.
Mobile can also help retailers attain the last mile of customer fulfillment, which was a major factor over the holidays as the glut of online orders strained retailers and delivery networks. Retailers trying to build strong connections between those consumers’ digital devices and in-store shopping with hybrid models like “click and collect” did not fare well on Cyber Monday, with more than 60% of customers running into issues.
With the IBM MobileFirst for iOS Pick and Pack app, retailers can easily transform their own storefronts and stockrooms into local depots to ship merchandise directly to customers. The app connects store associates to the order management system where they are alerted to what orders they are in charge of handling. Then they pick, pack and ship those orders in the sequence of the customers’ requests. This approach can give retail empires with physical stores a shipping-time advantage over their online-only competitors.
This year, retailers should recognize how a mobile-enabled workforce can dramatically improve the overall customer experience. As the battle for consumer loyalty continues to rage, the retailers using mobile to deliver on the promise of personalized customer service will be the winners the whole year through.
Rodney Bryant is a retail expert and consultant for IBM Global Business Services. This self-proclaimed geek combines his technology-obsessed passion with more than 17 years of retail experience in mobile, commerce, marketing and merchandising to create profitable and engaging customer experiences for retailers around the world. Currently Bryant is a subject matter expert and key team member developing relevant, efficient, and forward-thinking retail applications, built in native iOS Swift, in support of the new and notable Apple + IBM relationship.
